There has been a recent growing concern over the pollution of the earth by volatile organic compounds (hereinafter VOCs) and organic air toxics emitted by large and small industrial operations, air stripping of ground water, and innumerable small area sources such as paint spray booths and degreasing operations. Many of the VOCs and organic air toxics are believed to contribute to tropospheric ozone non-attainment, toxic effects from exposure to hazardous air pollutants, ozone layer destruction, and global climate change. Considerable research and development efforts have been directed at the destruction of such pollutants.
The destruction of a broad range of VOCs and air toxics in industrial gas streams and from area sources has been greatly complicated by the fact that the industries and sources of such pollutants may be operating on a continuous or batch process in which there may be time periods where there are large volumes of polluted gas to be treated, where there are periods where there is no gas emission, and where there may be varying levels of pollutants with time. A suitable destruction process must be able to follow such process cycles. Conventional technology such as high temperature incineration requires the use of high temperature ceramics for insulation which does not readily withstand, and is subject to severe damage in the presence of, repeated cycling over broad temperature ranges.
Accordingly, it is highly desirable that a practical destruction process operate at as low a temperature as possible in order to minimize the need for expensive insulation or the requirement to repeatedly replace such insulation and furthermore in order to provide a process which is economical in its power or heating requirements.
An additional problem encountered in the destruction of VOCs and organic air toxics in air streams is to obtain efficient destruction with low concentrations of pollutants and/or with high volume gas streams. Under such conditions conventional known control technologies do not provide an efficient and economical operation.